[ad_1]
– Sometimes it comes with tears, and sometimes it doesn’t. Now I will try not to smell as much.
This is how Ingvill Måkestad starts Bovim when this week’s NRK podcast “In the Long Run” is asked to tell what happened during the London Olympics.
Many people still remember the footage from the press conference on June 8, 2012, where Norwegian mid-distance hope had to say that the Olympics had been marred by an Achilles tendon injury.
Perhaps no one knew where and how good Bovim was when the injury hit. And what almost no one has known so far are the details of what really happened.
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim here during an 800 meter race at Bislett in 2016.
Photo: Vidar Ruud
– He couldn’t touch me
The start of the descent started under a basically intense training session at Bislett before the start. She says on the podcast that “he was definitely in the best shape of his life this week before the Olympics.”
The dragons at Bislett left with a flow and a feeling that indicated the speed of the medal in the championship. Then something happened:
– In the last 20 meters of the last 200 meters I know that something is happening in the heel. So you just have to close your eyes and hope for the best, relax and go to the Olympics, she says.
But the pain did not go away. The day before the heat test, he was to try on the studded shoes on the warm-up court outside the grand Olympic stadium.
– Then maybe we shouldn’t go to the doctor there, maybe, she starts.
But then she still does it:
– Someone could make a bad decision by putting some cortisone syringes and anesthetic on the heel, in the Achilles area, so it shouldn’t feel like it hurts, because I am very hurt. Then it melts. Then I just go around the 200 meter. So I just stand there in the golden Olympics and can’t touch the place, so the Achilles smoke there, says Bovim, and continues:
– There is something that can happen when you have the injury, that the heel bone irritates the Achilles tendon. So it can get a little “dark”, in a way, and then you can smoke much more easily.
INJURY: Ingvill Måkestad Bovim had to deal with many injuries during his sports career. One of the injuries ended the Olympic participation in 2012. Four years later, he was unable to qualify for the Rio Games.
Photo: Heiko Junge
I was told that the Achilles tendon would not smoke
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim says that he had not taken pain relievers in four or five years before this happened.
– Then you stay there and you can’t run. What do you do when medical support says there is no Achilles tendon danger? Should you try this? Then you sit down as an interpreter and think “then I do it.” That is the last chance.
When NRK talks to her after the podcast episode is published, Bovim says she does not blame the medical team that assured her that the Achilles tendon would not smoke due to the cortisone injection.
Although the decision was bad, it was she who decided to undergo cortisone treatment, she says.
– It was a decision I didn’t want to make, but I did it for the Olympics. I will not blame anyone else. You can get advice from others, but the responsibility falls on the professional’s shoulders.
– Extremely restrictive
When this happened, Ola Rønsen was the chief medic of the Norwegian Olympic squad. He explains that there were several doctors discussing the decision, but he would not comment further on this particular case, since it is personal health information.
Rønsen quit his job in 2013, saying he doesn’t know if the practice of using cortisone syringes for this type of injury changed after Bovim smoked the Achilles tendon.
Roald Bahr, Professor of Sports Medicine at the Norwegian School of Sports and Chief Physician at today’s Olympiad, answers the following questions about common cortisone treatment:
– No, the Olympic Games were, and still are, very restrictive with cortisone injections, he says.
Think ultrasound errors were crucial
Knut Jæger Hansen was Bovim’s personal trainer for several years and was in London when the student experienced the trauma of the injury. Hansen, who is a trained physical therapist, says Bovim underwent an ultrasound examination before making the decision to use cortisone.
– We were in the Olympic Center and those who were there should be among the most outstanding doctors in the world. But those who did ultrasound saw no damage to the tendon. Although these doctors were considered the best in the world, a mistake was made, he explains.
PREVIOUS MEMORY COACHES: Knut Jæger Hansen has many years behind him as a track and field coach, coaching Ingvill Måkestad Bovim, among others.
Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix
Therefore, based on the ultrasound examination, the medical team believed that cortisone therapy was a possible solution. Hoping to put Bovim on the starting line, they put the syringe in to ease the pain without knowing that the tendon was damaged.
– The evaluations carried out by the Norwegian team are not criticized at all, but in retrospect, one should not put that syringe. We hardly ever use cortisone treatment for tendon injuries because it provides short-term benefits and is risky, he explains.
At least Bovim is aware that he would never risk again, and he has a clear call for both athletes and sports doctors:
– No one is allowed to use cortisone in Achilles or to plant, you just have to stop, everyone outside! Malfunction
Bahr at the Olympics has the following comment about Bovim’s call:
– I think it’s great that the topic is highlighted again. There are many reasons to be extremely restrictive with cortisone injections. But: There are still exceptions, where such an injection can be good medicine, he says.
- Listen to the podcast “In the Long Run” here:
